Vanishing New York Backup

For years, we've been watching the hyper-gentrified parts of town wither under the strain of what's become known as high-rent blight . The city is being hollowed out . Small businesses are vanishing--not because of random "market forces" or changing consumer trends, and not only because of online shopping, but because the rent is too damn high. The issue is finally getting traction in higher places. State Senator Brad Hoylman, a long-time advocate for small business, has published an in-depth report: " Bleaker on Bleecker: A Snapshot of High-Rent Blight in Greenwich Village and Chelsea ." Hoylman trying to save Cafe Edison, 2014. Photo: Peter Ajemian, twitter In the report: "Senator Hoylman’s office found numerous examples of high rent blight, where independent businesses are forced out because of 'exorbitantly high rent…being raised astronomically.' In case after case, landlords push out local businesses in order to hold out for luxu...

Years ago, I wrote a lengthy piece on the history of New York's newsstands , how City Hall and other powers had been trying to replace and control them for decades, and how Bloomberg succeeded. In 2003, Bloomberg signed the street furniture bill, aiming, in his own words, “to rationalize the streets of the city, where right now it’s a hodgepodge of unattractive things.” The city seized hundreds of stands from their long-time owners, replacing them with identical stainless steel and glass boxes by Cemusa, a Spanish advertising company. As the Times explained, “Before 2003, newsstand operators paid the city a licensing fee, but owned and paid for their newsstand.... Now the newsstands are owned by Cemusa.” At one point, Bloomberg reportedly wanted the mom-and-pop operators to pay for the new stands—at a cost of up to $40,000 each. That’s like the government seizing your house, building a new house you’ll rent from a corporation, and then charging you for its construction. Luck...

Here's what's left of the once great and gorgeous Lenox Lounge. There's nothing but a pile of brick and timber, a couple of broken walls, and the ghosts of Harlem past. photo: Lynn Lieberman ( AFineLyne ) Untapped Cities has more photos, if you'd like to rend your garments and beat your breast in grief. The demolition began earlier this month after a long, sad story--which you can read here . And, yeah, it was the rent. It's almost always the rent. Regulations on commercial rent would have prevented this.

Last week, we heard the news that Richard Basciano, porn king of Times Square, had passed away. He had kept Show World going for decades in a pair of old buildings on 8th Avenue and 42nd Street, remnants of the lost Deuce. Surely his passing will mean the closure of Show World and the sale--and likely demolition--of the buildings . I went by to check on Show World. Already, much of the place has been closed. The main room is open, still selling DVDs, magazines, and sex toys; and the handful of video peep booths there are running. But the warren of back rooms and basement spaces has been closed. The neon lights are off. Chains cross the entrances hung with "do not enter" signs. Show World has been diminished. This week, Crain's offered an in-depth look at Basciano's life with Show World. They came to the same conclusion: "Regardless of whether his estate sells, undertakes a development itself or finds a partner, the financial pressures from the lawsui...

After 73 years of legendary life in Harlem, and after 4 years of sitting empty and wasted, the once great Lenox Lounge is currently being demolished . It is a terrible shame that could have been avoided. today If the city had commercial rent control, as it did for many years, it would have been avoided. If the City Council had passed the Small Business Jobs Survival Act , it might have been avoided. But City Hall refuses to protect small business people against landlord greed, claiming that it's a free-market society --which it is not. Corporate chains in the city are regularly chosen by Business Improvement Districts and given millions of dollars in tax breaks and incentives. That's not laissez-faire . That's corporate welfare. Thanks to City Hall's catering to big business, we have lost the Lenox Lounge, along with countless other precious local landmarks. For the soul of the city, the price of that loss is high. Owner Alvin Reed, Daily News photo, 2012 ...

A couple of readers sent in a listing offering the Canal Rubber site for rent. "Currently Canal General Merchandise and Canal Rubber," it reads, with a plea and a renaming: "Join Canal Street’s burgeoning design district." And, of course, there's a rendering of the blandification that the realtor hopes will come, clearly a dream of Shake Shack (and a different breed of people): Canal Rubber has been in this location since 1954. I called the place and was told that the building has been sold to a new owner, but the shop is not closing: "We're not going anywhere." That's good news because Canal Rubber is beloved--by customers, of course, but also by passersby , thanks to its unique vintage signage. IF IT'S IN RUBBER - WE HAVE IT! (They've got a great Twitter feed that shows all the amazing things you can do with their products.) Urban miniaturist Alan Wolfson even rendered Canal Rubber in Lilliputian dimensions . Long live...

The Daily News reported yesterday that Richard Basciano, "New York’s former prince of porn who made a mint peddling smut in the old Times Square," has died at the age of 92. Basciano, the paper notes, "owned several neglected, but highly valuable, buildings between 42nd and 43rd Sts. along Eighth Ave. The former porn purveyor had gotten many offers from major developers for his infamous Show World building at 42nd St. and Eighth Ave." But he lived in the building and, for reasons involving a partner, was not able to sell it. So it has remained. But what will happen to the Show World building--and Basciano's other "neglected" and valuable properties--now that he's gone? The former Show World, early 2000s The original Show World vanished (mostly) in 2004 and became a family-friendly entertainment center. After Giuliani’s 1995 zoning ordinance, Show World had soldiered on, its naughty bits whittled away piece by piece. By 1998, the live g...

I like paper. I like pretty much anything on paper. I like how it looks, feels, and smells. Some people go around smelling old books . Lagerfeld makes a perfume that mimics the odor of books, called Paper Passion . Book smell, say researchers at the University College London’s Centre for Sustainable Heritage, is “a combination of grassy notes with a tang of acids and a hint of vanilla over an underlying mustiness.” It is the smell of decay. Stationery stores don't have the full-bodied aroma of a used bookshop, but they're a close second, especially an old, cluttered stationery store like Phil's on E. 47th Street . "One of the last old fashioned stationery stores," as they say on their site , Phil's carries vintage stationery supplies: "Airmail envelopes. Onion skin paper. Many Boorum & Pease record and columnar books. Old typewriter and printer ribbons. Rolodexes. And more!" "DON'T BE FOOLED BY IMITATIONS! Genuine means pro...